Threat of Axis Deer on the Big Island

[Midnight Rambler]

Bullwinkle, they are not clueless at all. They are also well aware of the success of the NZ outfits. But bringing them in resulted in an outpouring of opposition from the hunters, much like many of the other solutions which are known to work.

[Carey]

Bringing this forward, as there is no longer a threat, there has been a documented kill of an axis deer by the BIISC last week. There are deer here, they are highly invasive & destructive to the native & farm plants (economically impacting farmers on Maui) and were brought here by some for their own selfish desires.... Our few ungulate free reserves are very susceptible to deer intrusion, as the fencing was not designed for a species that was not on island....

Perhaps the hunters of the island will now do the RIGHT thing & work together to obtain the materials & labor to re-fence all of the exclusion fencing...it is a dream, as some have actually worked to put holes in the fences, just 'cause, but it would be the right thing to do...

You may wonder why I did not mention having the hunters ELIMINATE the population? I do not think they could, at this stage in the introduction. This island is now the recipient of this destructive form of selfishness....

BTW:
Sen. Kahele, I so thank you for all of the work you have done on this, it is just too bad that the introduction was made here.

[Rob L]

Where was the kill?

I had a house one summer in Fire Island were deer are considered large rats who carry Lime disease. Would be terrible if they became established on the Big Island. Can't believe people would be so stupid as to bring them over.

Aloha,
Rob L

[Carey]

Kill - south end, siting have been more wide spread (all the way up to Kohala & Saddle (some confirmed sitings) so this probably is not a single deer & most likely there is a small population here that is growing...

Jan Schipper, BIISC manager was quoted "If you want to look at a future with sustainable agricultural economy, the deer is going to make sure that is not going to happen."

Upside, the economy of fencing contractors... farms with deer delectables will now have to start planning for this...

[taropatch]

Very disturbing story.

http://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/sect...sland.html

[hotinhawaii]

What I find even equally disturbing are the proliferation of bumper stickers on the trucks of hunters saying "Axis Deer--say no to eradication." Have you all seen those yet? I can't believe people are so small minded that they can not understand the threat imposed by these animals.

[hotinhawaii]

Here is a response to the article on axis deer in the Tribune Herald, "The white man can hunt anything to extinction, The only reason these deer might pose a problem, is that the authorities are so afraid of guns that it takes an act of the legislature before they will allow anyone but the military and law enforcement outside with one. On the issue of food, deer works. Deer eats crops. Man eats deer."
The scientists working on this issue need to step it up so the public gets it.

[Carey]

With a front page story today on the record of more than 6,000 firearms registered last year in this county, I doubt that is fear of guns is a huge problem here... (ADD: an increase of over 17% statewide over the year before!)

There were enough huntable food mammals & birds here, like turkey, dove, pheasant, pig, mouflan sheep, goat & feral cattle (that is right, hundreds-thousands of them are feral here) that adding one that can destroy the mesic & dry forests WAS NOT GOOD. It was a selfish act by those who felt it was too much of a bother to go to one of the islands that already has these invasive species & help them out by hunting their nuisance population of deer!

One reason to get a license is to be REPRESENTED...when the numbers of hunters declines, their vote does too! CBS 2007 report on the decline of hunters (purchasing hunting/fishing licenses is done by way less than 10% of the populations & surveys also show less than 10% of the population is fish/hunt...sorry for 2006 data, but the 2011 data is not yet out...should be in a couple of months):
http://www.cbsnews.com/2100-201_162-3228893.html
Background USFWS 2006 data:
http://www.census.gov/prod/2008pubs/fhw06-nat.pdf

[Bullwinkle]

http://www.kvue.com/news/local/Gun-sales...67125.html

my mainland friends tell me they are buying guns to protect themselves and food reserves if the s hits the fan, never mind the old school hunting smoke screen - grin

- Texans seem to agree

[tada]

Imagine the reaction if the State officials went to Molokai and told the folks "we are here to help you to eradicate the deer." nor sure that's the prudent thing to do.

The quandary is everybody worries how the Big Island dependent on the outside world for food yet deer seems to be established everywhere except here. So looks like deer and ag coexist everywhere except Maui. So I'm guessing game management is the solution. So it's time to bust all the illegal hunters on Maui not so sure about Molokai?

Deer and ag seem to coexist on Kauai. Don't they grow the seed corn on Kauai? So does that mean Kauai feed the world? Imagine the Armageddon if the gmo crop fails on Kauai?